The Wollomombi is a trout stream within reach of the better-known waters around Ebor, Walcha and Dorrigo, and it flows on into the Chandler River. Waterfall Way crosses it, and that crossing, with a public reserve on each side, is the place to get your bearings.

The magazine writers describe the river as once a blue-ribbon fishery that has suffered through several droughts since, and say that after three extremely wet years it is on the mend. In our experience, streams like this one shrink to a chain of pools in a dry year and fish poorly when they are low and warm. A gauge on the river reports flow and level, and the conditions card carries it; look at it before you drive, and give the river a miss when it is low.

The single most useful thing to know about the habitat is what lives on the bottom. The river holds a prolific crayfish population, and the trout feed on it almost to the exclusion of any other food. A good bet is that the fish sit on the bottom of the pools, along rock and undercut edges where crayfish live, and not in the surface film.

Rainbow trout are the fish you can plan on. They have been stocked here in every recent season. Read that as what went in, not as what you will catch. Golden perch were released once, in a single season, and nothing else suggests a perch fishery here.

The magazine writers speak of fish over five pounds without naming the species. Rainbows are the trout to plan on.

The forage is crayfish, and it is almost the whole story. The magazine says that diet grows fish fast and large, and in our experience it also makes them single-minded. Your fly box for this river is small: a few weighted streamers in crayfish colours, dark olive, brown and rusty orange, tied to swim hook-up and to sink fast, and one dry, a Royal Wulff in size 12 to 16, for the fish that looks up on a warm evening.

What follows is a guide’s read of the season; let the flow on the conditions card override it on the day.

In our experience the warm months, from late spring through to early autumn, are when crayfish are most active and the trout feed hardest on them. Morning and evening are the times to crawl a streamer through the pools; a hot, bright afternoon is the time to rest the water. The Royal Wulff earns its place on a summer evening when a fish is rising.

After rain, when the river has a little colour and a rise in flow, is in our experience the best time on any crayfish water. Fish move onto the edges to feed and a big streamer fished slow is hard for them to ignore.

Whether the river closes through winter is for the current NSW fishing guide to settle before you plan a cold-weather trip. Drought is the other calendar. The river has been through several dry spells that hurt it, and a low, warm river in a dry summer is a river to leave alone.

This is streamer fishing on the bottom, and the rig should say so. Fish a five- or six-weight with a floating line and a long leader, or a sink-tip in the deeper pools, and a weighted fly heavy enough to reach the bottom quickly. A dark, weighted Woolly Bugger is the plainest crayfish you can tie; a purpose-tied crayfish pattern with rubber legs and a lead underbody is better.

Fish it the way a crayfish moves: cast up and across, let the fly sink to the bottom, then crawl it back in short pulls with long pauses, letting it drop again on each pause. In our experience most takes come on the drop or the first pull after it. Work the deep edges, the rock, the undercuts and the tails of the pools, and cover each lie two or three times before you move.

Given how fixed the trout are on crayfish, expect them to ignore a small nymph and an ordinary dry most of the time. Save the Royal Wulff for a fish you can see feeding on top.

A trout that has grown large here is a strong fish. Use a leader you trust, carry a net that will take a fish over five pounds, and keep it in the water while you unhook it.

The magazine writers put public reserves beside Waterfall Way where it crosses the river, on both the north and the south side. It is where a first visit should start.

Away from the crossing, treat the land as private until you know otherwise; if you want that water, find the owner and ask before you cross a fence. That is a guide’s standing habit, not a statement that any paddock is open to you. Ask first, leave gates as you find them, and accept a refusal.

Park well off Waterfall Way at the reserve and take care crossing the road. As on any upland river, water can come up quickly after a storm, so watch the gauge on the conditions card and do not wade a rising river. As on any bush river in summer, wear boots and watch where you put your hands and feet on warm rock.

No rule specific to this river was found. Seasons, closures, and size and bag limits for this water are for the NSW fishing department to settle.

Before you fish, read the current NSW fishing rules and regulations, the freshwater bag and size limits and the general freshwater closures, and confirm the fishing fee.